On the road: “Wicked” to resume in Fort Myers
The Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall at Edison College in Fort Myers has been popping up lately as what appears to be becoming a favored launching pad for shows on national tour, and/or to break in new casts for shows in transition.
The latest word, this week, is that Mann will be the startup point for the second national tour of the musical “Wicked” when it cranks up for three weeks there, March 7-29, 2009.
The first national tour, now winding down in Rochester, NY, has played Florida’s east coast several times and won’t be back next season. The new company will move north from Fort Myers to Birmingham and Jacksonville en route to the northeast and Midwest next spring.
The three-week Fort Myers engagement indicates the still-growing southwest coast is becoming an important locale on the touring circuit – yet out of the spotlight enough to serve as the break-in points that Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa once served.
JACK ZINK, the Sun-Sentinel theater, music & cultural affairs writer, has spent 38 years on the Gold Coast...